Question about scarring
 

so its 8 weeks approx since the original accident. Do you think it will get any better, or am I stuck looking like this?

I have a facial scar...had it since I was 8.
put it this way, it'll never be gone, but with lots of time, it'll fade.

with my scar, its at the point now that no one seems to notice it unless I point it out. probably helps that its between my bottom lip and chin though.

It will get better.

Up until a year later at least scars fade/settle. The redness goes away for one thing. It blends in better.

However, frowning will still bring it back into view clearer ever after it's faded.

Don't fret about it too much just yet. It will however take time (as most things do I suppose)


I'm speaking from personal experience (2 scars behind my ears from surgery, 2 above my pelvis and 1 above an eyebrow)

Was it sutured or just left open to heal?

I once counted my scars, I have over 30, though most are under 2 inches. And I've had em since childhood so I have a lot of experience.

If its red, it hasn't fully healed yet. And once it goes white, it'll take awhile, but it will slowly get better. After a decade or so they become barely noticeable. After several decades, they will most likely disappear altogether.

was glued shut. This is what it looked like the day after I did it

I'm not a fan of gluing skin shut. had my hand glued shut after I gashed it open across the knuckles while doing dishes. It left a very big and ugly scar. :(

Heh, don't you have free healthcare over there? Why not go to a doc for proper stitches?

If I recall correctly, SF did go to the ER about this. They use special glue to close some wounds now. You can read more about it here: Using Tissue Adhesive for Wound Repair: A Practical Guide to Dermabond - March 1, 2000 - American Academy of Family Physicians

In certain cases, it evidently produces better cosmetic results over the long-term than traditional stitches. So don't give up hope yet, SF! It will heal and fade with time. Make sure to keep it well-moisturized and covered with sunscreen--that will help it keep fading.

There's a product called Mederma that's supposed to help scars heal. I'm not sure if it's sold in the UK, but you can probably find something similar.

Yes. There is hope. 8 weeks is not much time. Your wounds still look fresh. The red will fade.

In 1998 I did some serious damage to my face in a mountain biking accident. My entire right side looked like hamburger. None of the wounds were individually deep enough to require stitches. Butterfly bandages were on some of the cuts. For several months I applied Neosporin (antibiotic ointment) to the wounds daily. I wore an oil-free SPF 50 sunscreen daily for the next 5 years and reapplied sunscreen frequently whenever I was exposed to the sun. It worked. Granted, my wounds were a scattering of small cuts: several like the one on your nose rather than the one on your forehead.

Be patient. Use sunscreen.

I have a fairly big scar on my chin (deep and took 27 stitches to fix it)- I crashed my bicycle into a truck coming out of a drive way. That was in the early 90's. Most people don't even notice it, unless I point it out to them.

If you don't have Mederma on hand, you can break open Vitamin E capsules and smear that on the scar. Even eight weeks into the healing process, it may still help the scar heal and fade faster.

that's a fierce photo if it makes you feel better. Look at it this way. Tina Fey has had a huge gash on the left side of her face for years. And she's, well, Tina Fey (read: perfect)

My reaction:
"Tina Fey has a scar?! Where?!" *Googles* "Ohhhh...wow, never saw it before!"
(perhaps the blessing of not watching stuff in HD. LOL)

I'll take a picture of my scar sometime. Its about 15 years old. :rolleyes:

Snowy, isn't glue (well, adhesive of any sort) poisnous? Well, I've heard some real horror stories of kids eating paste and glue in nursury school but I always had it in the back of my mind that glue is poisonous!!!

I only thought of the episode in CSI miami where that one dude used super glue to seal his cut.

Depends on the glue. Plain old household Elmers is non-toxic, though it's bad for you if huffed. That's what the kid in my first grade class ingested by the fistful. Couldn't leave that kid alone for a minute.

Cyanoacrylate glue (aka Super Glue), on the other hand, is toxic and it's straight to the hospital if you ingest any.

Rubber Cement used to contain benzene, which is very toxic and is linked to several nasty cancers. They've reformulated it over the years to make it less toxic, but I still wouldn't nom it, if I were you.

Those glues used in ER's are safe, non-toxic, and supposedly better than stitches.
The doc that put glue over my knuckles a few years ago chatted continuously about the "glue"...how its not really glue...blah blah blah.

I didn't really care. I was just glad I wasn't getting stitches over my knuckles. I was afraid they'd rip open. Ewwwww.

In my case, the scar is still very noticeable, and red on my hand. I found that damn purple glue obstructed the skin's natural repair, and I ripped it out (rather painfully) early.

Now that I think about it, that could be why the scar is so noticeable. heh. Oh well.

Some glue is even edible.:) The glue used for musical instruments -violin family anyway- and some furniture making, is made from animal hide, and is actually called hide glue. It is basically the same as jello, but without the sugar and flavoring.

Lindy
(expect a drop in TFP members' jello consumption)

Most of my old scars are now the same color as my skin (AKA, really really white)

Vitamin E is supposed to help. I've had it recommended to me to take a capsule, pull it apart, and rub the gel on scars, particularly while they're fresh. I've never tried it myself, but I trust the source.